8 impunity. The Asmoneans were at once High-priests and civil rulers. Combining clerical with worldly power, they were called pricat-kings after the order of Melchizedek. Judas, called Aristobulus, was Highpriest and king, and wore a diadem; and after the death of Herod, "High-priests were entrusted with the dominion over the nation;" and they were often supposed to be endowed with the gift of prophecy; thus Hyrcanus was called ruler, High-priest, and prophet. Yet they were not raised above the law; the Mishnah declared, "the High-priest can be a judge and be judged, he may serve as witness, and others may bear witness against him;" he was subject to almost all the lovirate regulations (or those of the yavam), except that he was not permitted to marry his deceased brother's widow; and he had even to suffer the punishment of stripes, if he had forfeited it by some offence. The priests and Levites were divided into classes and their duties clearly regulated and defined. 10 For large numbers of them were required for the complicated and symbolical rituals of the Pentateuch, and their multitude was regarded as a blessing for the people. 11 The Levites themselves were deemed too holy to be charged with the low and menial offices entrusted to them in the Law; and they were thoroforo assisted in their task by servants who were regarded as the property of the Temple. 12 Tithes and firstfruits, the firstborn, and other imposts, were delivered up conscientiously, 13 and often with exaggerated minutenoss. 14 Store-rooms were, in the precincts of the Templo, sot apart for the contributions, 15 which stood under the careful control and administration of appointed officials. 16 Thus the priesthood enjoyed authority, honour, and influence; 17 then Malachi could declare, with regard to the priest, what in some respects is the absolute reverse of the terms used in Jacob's address, "The Law of truth was in his mouth, and iniquity was not found in his lips; he walked with Me in peace and equity, and turned many away from iniquity; for the priest's lips should keep knowledge, and people should seek the Law at his mouth; for he is a messenger of the Lord of hosts;" 18 they formed a kind of aristocratic caste; Christ himself, the mediator, was distinguished by the name priest or High-priest; 19 and the word cohen assumed, in the kindred 8 Acts IX. 1, 2, 14; XXIII. 4. Comp. Ps. CX. 4; scc supra p. 106. 10 Scc supra pp. 348, 360. 11 Jer. XXXIII. 18, 21, 22. 12 Sec supra p. 360. 13 Nch. X. 36-40; XII. 44-47; XIII. 5, 12; 2 Chr. XXXI. 11; comp. Mal. III. 8, 10; Ezek. XLIV. 28-30; Judith XI. 13; Tobit I. 7, 8. 14 Matth. XXIII. 23; Luke XI. 42; see p. 372. 15 Comp. 2 Chr. XXXI. 11; Neh. X. 38; XII. 44; XIII. 5, 12; Mal. III. 10. 16 Nch. XII. 44; XIII. 12. 17 Sir. VII. 31-35. 18 Mal. II. 6, 7; comp. 2 Chr. XVII. 7-9. 19 See p. 112. dialects, the meaning of prince or noble. The very literature of the Jews was thenceforth visibly coloured by the spirit of the Law. Even Ezekiel, living in the earlier period of the Babylonian exile, described the ideal priesthood of the future, on the whole, in harmony with the precepts of the Pentateuch. But the Chronist could attempt to rewrite all the annals of his nation from a Levitical point of view, and to alter, nay palpably to falsify, the facts recorded by anterior, more truthful, and less biassed historians; he could, for instance, relate that when king Uzziah, though severely rebuked by the priests, did not desist from burning incense upon the altar, he was smitten with leprosy on the spot, and was never healed to the day of his death, though Uzziah's great predecessor Solomon had done the same act with perfect impunity. Finally, the Levites killed even the paschal lambs instead of the Israelites, and thus deprived the latter of the last vestige of their original prerogatives. 3 2 Yet the exposition of the Law was not the exclusive privilege of any single class. It was the common right of all who possessed acumen, ability, or learning. Thus the scribes' and scholars formed gradually a more and more influential order honoured merely for their knowledge and piety. This was the more important as the main work of the nation for many centuries after the return from exile centred in the literary and legal development of the Scriptures. Among the doctors of the Mishnah were men from all tribes. Hence the priests could not maintain an intellectual preponderance, nor secure a dangerous superiority over the minds of the Jews. The demolition of the Temple by the Romans naturally deprived the priests and Levites of all spiritual power and nearly of all revenues. As the right of teaching is independent of descent, and the office of Rabbi may be held by any Jew of a certain moral and scholastic qualification, they enjoyed from that time to the present day only a few unimportant privileges in the Synagogue and the social life of the Jewish communities. 1 Ezek. XLIV. 15–31. 2 2 Chr. XXVI. 16-21. • 2 Chr. XXX. 17; XXXV. 10—14. 4 Comp. 1 Chr. XXIV. 6; 2 Chr. XXXIV. 13. A. CONSECRATION OF THE SANCTUARY AND OF AARON AND HIS SONS. CHAPTER VIII. SUMMARY.-Moses carries out the commands previously received (Ex. XXIX) concerning the consecration of Aaron and his sons, and of the Tabernacle and its utensils. He directs Aaron and his four sons to bathe themselves; he then clothes them with their official garments, anoints the Tabernacle and its vessels, and Aaron himself (vers. 1-13); he next presents a bullock for a sin-offering; puts some of the blood upon the horns of the brazen altar, and burns the flesh partly upon it, and partly without the camp (vers. 14-17); then he offers a ram for a holocaust (vers. 18—21), and lastly, a ram specially for the consecration; for he puts some of its blood on the right car, right hand, and right fool, of Aaron and his sons, and sprinkles the rest on the altar around; he places the fat and the fat parts, together with the right shoulder and three kinds of unleavened cakes, on Aaron's and his sons' hands, waves, and then burns them upon the altar, while he appropriates to himself the breast; he sprinkles some of the mingled oil and blood taken from the altar upon the priests and their garments; after which the priests eat the meat in the Court of the Tabernacle (vers. 22-32). The same ceremonies are repeated for seven days, during which time Aaron and his sons are forbidden to leave the Court (vers. 33—36). 1. And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2. Take Aaron and his sons with him, and the garments, and the anointing oil, and the bullock for the sin-offering, 1-5. Commands had been given for constructing the Tabernacle and its utensils; Aaron and his sons had been appointed priests, and their official vestments described; the cercmonics to be observed at their consecration had been minutely specified, together with the ingredients and the preparation of the anointing oil. After the historical episode of the golden calf, the successful execution of some of these commands had been related of those concerning the Tabernacle and its utensils, the anointing oil, and the priestly garments. Then God ordered to rear up the Sanctuary, to arrange the holy implements in their duc places, to anoint them, and lastly, to wash, to clothe, and to anoint Aaron and his sons. Moses had faithfully carried out the injunctions which he had received, except those regarding the anointing of the Tabernacle and the consecration of Aaron and his sons. But before advancing to record their accomplishment also, the narrative pauses in order to insert precepts and ordinances indispensable to the effectual performance of these last and the two rams, and the basket of unleavened bread; 3. And assemble all the congregation to the door of the Tent of Meeting. 4. And Moses did as the Lord had commanded him; and the congregation was assembled to the door of the Tent of Meeting. 5. And Moses said to the congregation, This is the thing which the Lord has commanded to be done. commands. For the consecration of the priests, from which the anointing of the Tabernacle was inseparable, was to be accompanied by all the principal kinds of sacrifice. It seemed, therefore, desirable to premise a comprehensive code of the sacrificial laws; such a code was presented in the seven first chapters of Leviticus; and now the narrative returns to the point where it was broken off at the end of Exodus, and at once proceeds to the historical account of the initiation of the holy functionaries at the national Sanctuary. A general connection between the second and the third Book of the Pentateuch can, therefore, not be disputed; and the arrangement of the parts must be regarded as essentially logical. This conclusion is confirmed by the manner, in which the writer here describes the execution, which plainly refers to the corresponding injunctions in Exodus. Yet it would be rash to contend that this was the position of the respective portions in the original documents. The command in Exodus (XXIX) is so detailed that it can hardly be declared unintelligible or supposed to require extraneous elucidation; it alludes to the various sacrifices as matters entirely familiar to Moses; without additional or particular directions, it states, "it is a sin-offering", or "it is a burnt-sacrifice", or "it is a ram of consecration"; it exhibits the whole of the ceremonial law in full operation, as has even been admitted by champions of a different opinion; it would indeed have been to Moses no more than an aggregate of obscure phrases, were it not framed on the supposition of his perfect acquaintance with the sacrificial laws. Its authors could, therefore, not possibly have deemed it necessary to interpose between the behest and the achievement a long and varied account of the ritual of sacrifices. Hence it must be inferred, what indeed is sufficiently manifest from our observations on the preceding chapters, that these laws were inserted in their place and we must concede, inserted on the whole judiciously by the revisers of the two Books, who could find no better arrangement for the multifarious and often incongruous matter at their disposal. Moreover, it cannot be denied that the second Book concludes, in some respects, abruptly. For after all the orders had been given, the text summarily states, "And Moses did according to all that the Lord had commanded him; thus he did" (Exod. XL. 16); and yet the consummation of the charge concerning the anointing of the Tabernacle and the consecration of the priests, is there not related, but is reserved for a much later place, where it seems to stand severed from its natural connection. It is most probable that the narrative, forming the groundwork of the composition, was originally continuous, but that the laws, which also constituted documents complete in themselves, were inserted where the context seemed to require or to admit them. Moses provided himself with all the objects which he knew to be necessary 6. And Moses made Aaron and his sons approach, and washed them with water. 7. And he put upon him the tunic, and girded him with the girdle, and clothed him with the robe, and put the ephod upon him, and girded him with the band of the ephod, and dressed for the ceremonial the holy garments of Aaron and his sons, one bullock and two rams, and a basket containing three kinds of unleavened cakes; and then he proceeded with Aaron and his four sons, Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar, to the door of the Tabernacle to commence his solemn task. 6-13. The consecration of the priests was accomplished by a double series of acts, each consisting of three distinct ceremonies. The first series comprised the washing, the clothing, and the anointing of the priests; the second the presentation of the three chief kinds of animal sacrifice a sin-offering, a holocaust, and a thank-offeringthough in a form partly modified from those prescribed for ordinary occasions. Either series included both preliminary or general, and special or characteristic rites. For the first of the six acts the washing was designed partly as a common preparation and partly as an emblem of that purity so pre-eminently demanded by the priestly office; the second- -the clothing constituted the real investiture with the sacerdotal dignity, and visibly marked out Aaron and his sons for their sacred mission; the third the anointing was intended to typify that they were endowed with the holy spirit of God, and thus supernaturally fitted for their august functions; the fourth and the fifth, or the two first of the second series the sin-offering and the burnt-offering were again general preparations usually accompanying solemn rituals, and expressive of that feeling of sinfulness and submissive obedience which is particularly desirable in human mediators between their fellow-creatures and God; while the sixth act - the thankoffering formed a peculiar and most essential part of the ceremonics, so that this sacrifice was most emphatically called "the offering of the consecration." The three preliminary acts symbolised the duties and requirements, the three others the distinctions, the endowments, and the privileges, of the priesthood; and the six, in their combination, suggested everything that characterised the sacerdotal office and ils ministers. Holy actions required a state of perfect purity. They were, therefore, usually commenced by washing the garments or bathing the body. The Hebrews were enjoined to do the former when the revelations of Mount Sinai were announced as impending; the latter formed probably one of the chiefrites to be observed by the stranger who adopted the faith of the Israelites, so that the Talmudical rule arose, "circumcision without baptism is unavailing"; and both ablution and change of garments were ordered by Jacob when he purified his household, directed its members to remove all idols, and pledged them to the true and sole worship of God. While ordinarily, or previous to every official function in the Sanctuary, the priest was commanded to wash his hands and feet with the water of the laver in the Court, the High-priest, on the Day of Atonement, was charged to bathe his whole body before he commenced his solemn duties. How much more indispensable must the |